Samhain's Kiss

Samhain’s kiss is an blue starlike flower that signals the end of period of bounty and the period of loss. It is also symbolically linked to “the other side” and is used in a number of traditions.

Samhain’s Kiss is an odd blue flower. It is small and has five triangular petals that form a star. The color is cobalt blue with touches of white/ silver in its veins. It blooms between the autumnal equinox and Samhain (Halloween). For most peoples, Summer officially ended on October 31, and it became the day that the new year began (for the Celts). On the next day, they die off… shrivelling into dry woody with seed pod top. By the 2nd day, they are all very dead.

Samhain’s kiss is from summer’s kiss goodbye, or from its kiss for good luck. The holiday Samhain has special properties. The barriers between Life and Death, the worlds, and such disolve for this day. Thus spirits and monsters are found this day. This flower is associated with spirits/ monsters/ and crossing the boundries of the world.

Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed by spirits or bothered by monsters. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess and have the monsters move on, as there were already monsters here.

These flowers are used a decoys. To draw spirits and monsters away from homes, flowers are placed on graves and dead places. In some areas, they decorate the towns with them, as where the flowers are… the monsters are… to lead the other monsters astray.

Additional InformationNote: The icy cold of winter is required for the seeds to germinate. Thus most people’s attempt to domesticate the flower has failed, as they have yet to freeze the seeds.

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(Nitpicking: The dates could be slightly cleared up. Simply: the flower is a symbol of the holiday, as it blooms only that one day, then dies.)

The ritualistic use is a nice touch. Now, with fantasy and a magical world, you always have to ask, if it is only a symbol of the day, or has some deeper significance. Can it be used for other rituals, carefully preserved of course? Or does it signify something completely different, some regular mystical event (that could accidentally unsettle the spirits, etc)?

I really like the beginning of this, but in the end I was waiting for more. Sometimes that's good, sometimes a partial idea makes me think of many possbile endings and new ideas, but I didn't get as much inspiration as I had hoped from the great beginning.

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